Aug 24, 2016 5 min read

The news was the kind that gets Steelers fans all excited. Cornerback Keenan Lewis was going to visit the Steelers.

Immediately, social media lit up with questions. When will they sign him? Will he start? Etc, etc.

That’s putting the horse way before the cart.

Lewis, who was drafted by the Steelers in 2009, was released last Friday by the New Orleans Saints, who signed him to a 5-year, $25.5-million contract to leave Pittsburgh in free agency in 2013.

It was a deal that caused Steelers fans to gnash their teeth at the time. After all, in his final season with the team, Lewis finally showed some of the promise that led the Steelers to select him in the third round of the draft. Lewis, who to that point was a part-time contributor at best, recorded 71 tackles and led the team with 23 pass breakups.

But because the NFL’s salary cap remained relatively stagnant from 2011 through 2013, going up a miniscule – at least in terms of cap space – $3 million over that period, the Steelers were in a tough spot. They had some other players who were major contributors to Super Bowl runs who were still making big money.

In they end, they decided they couldn’t afford Lewis.

In 2013, that certainly looked like a big mistake. Longtime stalwart Ike Taylor’s play started to falter. And Lewis’ play in New Orleans was solid. Though his pass breakups dropped to nine, he recorded four interceptions for a New Orleans defense that ranked second in the NFL in pass defense.

But knee and hip injuries plagued Lewis in 2014 and 2015 and his play fell off, much like the rest of the Saints defense. And New Orleans decided it would rather move on without Lewis this season rather than keep him, even though there was nothing to be gained by his release against the salary cap. In fact, it will cost the Saints $6.35 million against their cap for Lewis not to play for them this season.

Steelers fans, however, see the 30-year-old as some kind of savior who should be signed right now to help a secondary that ranked 30th in the NFL last season.

That’s not the case. New Orleans’ secondary was actually worse than Pittsburgh’s a year ago, ranking 31st in the league and allowing a league-worst 45 touchdown passes. And the Saints no longer felt Lewis can play.

Maybe they’re wrong. But they know more about his medical future than anyone and didn’t want to keep him around.

That should tell you something.

The Steelers should probably take a pass on a reunion with Lewis.

• There will be a lot of fantasy football drafts over the next couple of weeks and one of the biggest questions will be where to select Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell?

If Bell were guaranteed to play all 16 games, as he did in 2014, he would be in the running to be the top pick in any format.

But with his injury history and now a three-game suspension to start the season, he should probably be taken somewhere at the top of the second round unless you feel very confident you can select some running back depth to carry you through the first month of the season.

• Vince Williams’ three-year contract with the Steelers doesn’t mean Lawrence Timmons is clearly done with the Steelers after this season, but it sure doesn’t make things simple for a return by Timmons.

One of the issues at hand for the Steelers remains David DeCastro and getting him a new contract, which should pay the Pro Bowl guard in the range of $8 to $9 million per year.

The problem is the Raiders gave Kelechi Osemele a deal that averages $11.7 million per year in the offseason. No other guard averages more than $8 million per year.

But if you’re DeCastro’s agent, you have to try to use that Osemele deal as leverage. Certainly, there might be a team out there willing to pay DeCastro that kind of money.

The Steelers are paying Timmons $8.75 million this season in the final year of his contract. Even if he takes a slight pay cut to stay that’s a lot of money wrapped up into two contracts. And there’s still Antonio Brown’s situation to work out as he will be a free agent after the 2017 season.

Timmons, in what was considered a bad year by some, still led the team with 119 tackles last season while also recorded five sacks and an interception while playing 95 percent of the defensive snaps.

If the Steelers and Timmons had to list their relationship status right now on social media, it would be, “It’s complicated.”

Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.